In early March 1839 Lord Roden, the ultra-Tory and de facto leader of the Irish peers, proposed the formation of a select committee to inquire into Irish outrages. The start date of the proposed committee’s purview – 1835 – conspicuously corresponded with the beginning of Lord Mulgrave’s tenure as lord lieutenant, a period Roden identified with ‘tears of sorrow and streams of blood’. The committee, discussed in greater detail below, was the culmination of the Tories’ strategic effort to make Ireland – and particularly Irish agrarian violence – a rallying point to topple the Whig government of Lord Melbourne. Speaking before the House of Lords, Roden noted the ‘conspiracy in Ireland – a conspiracy systematic, organised, and secret … which was directed against the life and property of all who would not join it and support the treasonable objects which its members had in view’. Highlighting the alleged role of Ribbonism in coordinating a campaign for ‘the annihilation of the Protestant faith’, Roden peddled sectarian narratives stoking anti-Catholic sentiment and that connected Irish outrages to the political programme of O’Connell, which Roden argued received support from the Whigs in power.